Thousand Dusts Ferry Me - Chapter 9

When Jiang Baiyu changed his clothes and walked out, Yun Qing couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.

Crescent-shaped lips, a widow’s peak, thick eyebrows like curved moons with slightly downturned ends, giving him a gentle and lazy temperament;

Narrow double eyelids, slightly rounded eye corners, pupils moist and deep, bright yet intoxicating, as if containing the rippling Milky Way within them, paired with naturally smiling crescent lips…

Yun Qing had reason to believe that if he wanted to seduce someone, he would likely succeed.

Indeed, being a pretty boy required natural talent.

He wore cyan-colored robes with pale white trim, his hair tied in a half ponytail with a pale white ribbon, the rest hanging loosely.

When the wind blew, his glossy black hair danced together with the pale white ribbon.

Yun Qing resisted the urge to whistle.

…..

After nightfall, Yun Qing lit fires at the south, west, and north positions around the thatched cottage, and placed a section of dead branch in the east. Then she knelt on one knee before the dead branch, raising her sword finger in prayer.

The night breeze carried the sounds of insects, black strands of hair disheveled against her fair face, she remained still with her eyes closed, her demeanor quiet and devout.

Jiang Baiyu watched from the side, somehow feeling moved in his heart.

The dead branch gradually changed under her prayer.

First, its surface changed from dry to moist, then small bumps swelled at the branch joints, sprouts the size of rice grains emerged, and then rapidly grew, forming tender green leaves.

Yun Qing opened her eyes with exhaustion.

Seeing the green leaves, Fu Xue’s expression changed from worry to relief. “Senior Sister, Master is…?”

Yun Qing nodded, confirming her guess. “Still alive.”

This surprised Jiang Baiyu. “You can divine your master’s fate?”

Yun Qing shook her head and said, “This isn’t divination.”

Her master’s cultivation was higher than hers, and those with lower cultivation could hardly accurately divine for those with higher cultivation.

When Yun Qing first began learning divination, she was somewhat skeptical, because she remembered that when she was young, even her high-cultivation master couldn’t divine for her, and at that time she wasn’t just low in cultivation—she had none at all.

So she felt the principle of “lower cannot divine higher” was inaccurate.

Being skeptical, she spent half a month divining for Le Chenzi, concluding that her master was a bright green watermelon.

…..

Now she was asking about life and death through the arrangement of a formation.

The formation’s name: Prayer of Life.

****

Huayang Mountain, Changsheng Hall.

The Changsheng Hall was the largest hall in the entire Huayang Sect. Inside was a statue of Wen Zhongming over thirty feet tall, with one hundred and eight giant candles burning year-round, the incense never extinguishing.

This Changsheng Hall was originally the place for the Huayang Sect to hold major ceremonies, and ordinarily shouldn’t be in use. However, Jiang Binghe had a habit—he liked to discipline disciples in the Changsheng Hall.

Tonight the doors of the Changsheng Hall were tightly closed, and the disciples guarding outside were trembling with fear, not even daring to breathe heavily.

Inside the hall, Yu Beiting was thrown to the ground by a whip, his body rolling a full ten feet, spitting blood. He dared not wipe away the blood but crawled up to kneel on the ground, gasping as he said, “Disciple acknowledges his fault.”

“What fault?” Jiang Binghe gripped the steel whip, slowly walking closer.

Yu Beiting kept his head bowed low, not daring to look at Jiang Binghe. “Disciple should not have underestimated the enemy, nor announced his identity, bringing shame to the Sect Leader.”

Jiang Binghe raised his hand and delivered another lash. Crack!

Crack! Crack! Crack!

He struck more than twenty lashes in a row, beating Yu Beiting until he was covered in blood and screaming in agony.

Finally, he dragged the whip, looking down at Yu Beiting who resembled a blood-filled gourd, and asked, “Do you know what principle cultivators should remember most?”

“Disciple does not know. Please enlighten me, Sect Leader.”

“For all cultivators, what they should observe is not respecting teachers and valuing the Way, not hierarchical order, not fatherly kindness and filial piety, nor brotherly harmony.

Since you’ve stepped onto the path of cultivation, to fight against heaven for your fate, what you should know most is—survival of the fittest.

Deer and sheep being devoured by tigers and leopards is natural law. Your weakness is your greatest fault.”

Yu Beiting struggled to stand up. Because his injuries were too severe, he moved very slowly, falling back several times before rising again, leaving messy bloodstains on the ground.

He finally managed to kneel properly, respectfully answering, “Disciple acknowledges his fault.”

Jiang Binghe admired his struggle, his expression gradually softening. He nodded and tossed over a tiny silver bottle the size of a thumb, which landed precisely in front of Yu Beiting.

Yu Beiting knew it was medicine for healing and showed gratitude. “Thank you, Sect Leader!”

Jiang Binghe asked, “In your opinion, what kind of background do those two girls have?”

“The short one is uncertain for now, only know she has a bell that can control animals, nothing particularly powerful.

The tall one practices the Vajra Path, with hardened bones and flesh, flowing sword techniques, high cultivation, and knows some evil arts. Disciple was afflicted by her evil arts this time, which is why…”

“The Vajra Path?” Jiang Binghe stroked his beard, looking puzzled as he muttered to himself, “Not the Path of One Mind, nor the Path of Compassion, but the Vajra Path?

No wonder she wasn’t afraid when I made my move today. But… why the Vajra Path?”

At this moment, someone respectfully said from outside, “Sect Leader, Madam requests your presence.”

“I know.” Jiang Binghe used a spell to clean the blood that had splattered on him, a faint smile appearing on his face as he walked out a few steps, then suddenly turned back to instruct Yu Beiting: “Go bring the young master back.”

“As you command!” Yu Beiting waited until the sect leader’s footsteps had faded away, then suddenly went limp, collapsing on the ground.

****

Thin clouds flowed across the sky, covering the crescent moon, which hazily shone through with a radiant glow. Yun Qing stood in the moonlight, gazing at the starry dome, the open wilderness, and the mountains.

Jiang Baiyu jumped down from the tree—naturally the thatched cottage belonged to the women at night, so he had to stay in the tree—and walked toward her.

As he moved, his robe ties swayed gently, his clothes fluttering elegantly. It was just an ordinary piece of clothing, yet he wore it with the air of a tall, jade-like figure.

He stood shoulder to shoulder with her, and Yun Qing asked, “Aren’t you going to sleep?”

“I’m not tired. You?”

“Keeping watch.”

The night wind blew past, making their clothes flutter loudly. Jiang Baiyu silently looked at the sky for a while, then suddenly asked curiously, “What kind of person is your master?”

Yun Qing tilted her head slightly, her deep eyes reflecting the stars, “What kind of person is he…”

His background was mysterious, his personality free-spirited.

He would compete with his disciples for a piece of candy, only announcing his surrender when little Fu Xue was almost brought to tears;

He would also stay up late making toys for his disciples—wooden birds, dogs, and carts, quite ugly in appearance;

He would patiently listen to his little disciple’s chatter about new discoveries in the mountains—insects, birds, fish; and would also tell them stories they couldn’t understand;

He would eat those failed dishes made by Fu Xue, and then pretend to die to frighten her;

He would disguise himself as ghosts and spirits to “test” scholars who came seeking love;

He would even admit that he was indeed a bright green watermelon to save his senior disciple’s face…

To her, he was like a teacher and a father, like a father and also like a mother. In fact, he was better than most parents in the world, because not all parents are qualified to be parents.

Such a person—Yun Qing suddenly didn’t know how to describe him.

She smiled and answered, “A foolish do-gooder, I suppose.”

****

At this very moment, the “foolish do-gooder” Yun Qing spoke of was sitting in a cage made of gold.

On one side of the cage was a large garden with trees, flowers, artificial mountains, and flowing water; on the other side was a grand, deep palace with carved beams and painted rafters.

Although it was night, lanterns were lit everywhere in the palace, making it not much different from daytime.

His cage hung under the corridor of the palace, shaded by a wintersweet tree. Court ladies in palace attire passed by, but no one noticed him.

Judging from the enormous leaves of the wintersweet tree and the tower-like figures of these beauties, his cage must be a birdcage.

And he had been shrunk to the size of a bird.

Another piece of evidence regarding the birdcage was that beside him were vessels containing food and water. They were two small white porcelain bowls, one filled with clear water and the other with yellow millet.

Le Chenzi picked up a grain of millet. Since he had been shrunk, now a single grain of millet was as big as his finger, quite bizarre.

He played with it for a while without figuring anything out, then raised his hand and tossed it outside the cage.

He had thrown away quite a lot of millet these days.

After throwing millet for a while, he lay down on the perch to rest with his eyes closed.

The sound of moving fabric gradually approached the cage. Le Chenzi got up and opened his eyes to see someone walking to the cage—wide sleeves and broad belts, holding a long spoon, adding new yellow millet to the small porcelain bowl.

After filling it, this person also gently tapped the edge of the porcelain bowl with the long spoon, as if reminding him to eat.

Le Chenzi muttered to himself, “This is too insulting.”

The person outside the cage suddenly spoke, “Are you ready to write now?”

Le Chenzi closed his eyes, “I said I would write when I’m in a good mood. You’ve locked me in a cage—do you think I’d be in a good mood?”

The other coldly said, “My patience is limited.”

But Le Chenzi showed complete resignation, not afraid of the threat at all. “Then kill me. I don’t believe there’s anyone else in this world who can decipher Emperor Xi’s Wordless Book for you.”

“Not necessarily.”

“You said ‘not necessarily,’ which means it’s possible there is, and also possible there isn’t? You might as well gamble on whether there is or not.”

The person was silent for a moment, then said, “It’s also possible you’re deceiving me, just to stall for time. In fact, you can’t understand Emperor Xi’s Wordless Book at all.”

Le Chenzi casually smiled. “Yes, yes, yes, I can’t understand Emperor Xi’s Wordless Book at all. Now you can kill me. Please, go ahead.”

The other silently observed him for a while, ultimately did not kill him, but instead sent down two purple lightning bolts that struck him flat on his back, then left.

Le Chenzi was struck with his hair standing on end, smoking white. He lay in the birdcage, opening his eyes just a crack to secretly observe, and only when he saw the person’s back disappear in the distance did he quietly sigh in relief.

TN:

“美人尖” (měi rén jiān) refers to a widow’s peak, the V-shaped point in the hairline at the center of the forehead.

Big green watermelon- could be someone that is naïve, gullible, or easily taken advantage of

“金刚” (Vajra) refers to something diamond-like, indestructible, or related to Buddhist Vajrayana traditions.